In 1989, Ronaldo Ayala was sentenced to death for the murders of three men at a San Diego auto repair shop.
Instead of facing the gas chambers of San Quentin, the reputed Mexican Mafia member turned death row into a power base, collecting extortion fees, trafficking drugs and plotting through a vast network of underlings, law enforcement authorities and gang defectors say violent behavior. San Diego to Seattle.
Ayala, 74, currently faces racketeering charges filed by federal prosecutors in Sacramento, accusing the National City native of conspiring with members of the Sinaloa Cartel to distribute methamphetamine, heroin and fentanyl across the Western United States .
Ayala, who was transferred from San Quentin Prison to Centinella State Prison last year as Gov. Gavin Newsom closed death row, has not yet entered a plea. It was unclear Friday whether he was represented by an attorney.
Ronaldo Ayala spent thirty years on San Quentin's death row.
(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
In a succinct indictment unsealed Friday, prosecutors allege Ayala oversaw a partnership between the Mexican Mafia and the Sinaloa Cartel, Mexico's most powerful drug cartel, and charged its former leader " El Chapo” Joaquin Guzman provided protection.
It’s not clear from the indictment whether Guzman accepted — or even needed — the alleged offer. The former kingpin is serving a life sentence at ADX Florence, a maximum-security federal prison in Colorado, and has no contact with other inmates.
In 2023, a witness told FBI agents that San Diego had produced many Mexican Mafia members, but none as powerful as Ayala.
The witness - who Ayala allegedly had ties to San Diego-area gang members - pleaded guilty to drug trafficking charges and was sentenced to a lengthy prison sentence.
Ayala split the San Diego area with two other alleged Mexican Mafia members, his brother Hector and Richard Buchanan, according to transcripts of witness interviews with the FBI.
Buchanan controlled the east side of San Diego and much of its south bay. Ayala's brother acquired North County and Chula Vista. Ronaldo Ayala owns Spring Valley, Paradise Hills, National City and "everything else," she said.
"At the end of the day," she told agents, "this is Ronnie's city."
Ayala also collected a recurring payment called a "power bill" from the San Diego County jail system and shared it with his brother and Buchanan, according to witnesses. The woman told detectives each module in the prison system must be paid $50 per month through CashApp.
Ayala's subordinates are engaged in different activities, she said. Some buy methamphetamine in Tijuana and transport it to San Bernardino or Texas. Others ran away small house According to witnesses, illegal casinos or "trap houses" are places where people can buy and use drugs.
San Diego County prosecutors charged seven people in 2022 with operating a trap house for Ayala in the Encanto community. His representative in San Ysidro, Juan "Sleepy" Castro, oversaw loan sharking and human smuggling operations in addition to selling drugs, prosecutors wrote in court documents. Castro was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2023 for trafficking methamphetamine.
After Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman was arrested in Mexico in 2014.
(Eduardo Verdugo/AP)
Witnesses told the FBI that Ayala's influence extended beyond San Diego because he was on death row with known gang members from across California.
Ayala collected "taxes" from Riverside, Sacramento, San Francisco and even Seattle, according to an indictment unsealed this week. Prosecutors say gang members who worked for Ayala responded to a man who claimed to own " Mafia" musicians carried out arson attacks. " relation.
Two reputed members of the Seattle Unified Locotes gang, Samuel "Paiaso" Morales and Alexis "The Menace" Rodriguez, are also charged with extorting unsuspecting people whose property was burned. Unnamed musician.
The indictment alleges that Angel "Snappy" Esparza, who was convicted of murdering three people in Riverside County, helped Ayala collect a "tax" on drug sales from the Sinaloa cartel. Sent to death row.
Prosecutors said Ronald "Temper" Sepulveda, who Ayala described as "our main supporter," oversaw the affairs of prominent Mexican Mafia members in Riverside County, including extorting musicians.
Allen "Frankie Chino" Fong, a San Jose gang member serving a 17-year sentence for assault, is accused of arranging for Aya while incarcerated at Solano State Prison Collect "taxes".